Car Chute

The hybrid-electric and electric vehicle markets have been growing slowly for the last few years, but the price premium for the additional hardware required has always been a significant barrier to mass-market appeal. Hydraulic and flywheel energy storage systems remain very much in the evaluation phase, but they have started to get some serious consideration in garbage truck and Formula One Racing applications respectively.

Among the forecasts the study provides is NextGen Research’s outlook for the market for vehicle battery modules; the company expects to see growth from about $1.3 billion in 2008 to $3.7 billion by 2014.

Says the study’s author, Dave Alexander, “The most significant change over the last year or so has been the shift in attitude towards Lithium-Ion batteries for vehicle energy storage; from being a future vision of 5+ years away to the next production rollout within 12 months. Even Toyota has agreed that its NiMH battery packs are in the process of being phased out in future models. OEMs are now competing to be the first to market with a Li-ion energy storage system.”

(Source) Press

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